For most teenagers and adults living in the 1970s, the idea of space exploration was synonymous with the name Carl Sagan. His enormously popular television series Cosmos and his many appearances on the "Tonight" show made him a recognizable figure wherever he went. Corey S. Powell, staff writer for the Scientific American, estimated that Cosmos reached an audience of over 500 million people.

Sagan's parents, Samuel and Rachel Sagan, were living in the Bensonhurst area of Brooklyn, New York, when their son, Carl, was born in 1934. Although the elder Sagan hoped that his son would follow him in the coat business, young Carl spent his early years immersed in reading science fiction and related topics: astronomy, chemistry, physics, and the likelihood of space travel.

The family moved to Rahway, New Jersey, just before Sagan entered high school, but he elected to attend college...